Halloween

What exactly is so wondrous about Halloween? Is it the chance to scare the dickens out of little people and not get frowned upon for it? As a former teacher, that was always my favorite part; maybe you get a kick out of that, too.

Is it the chance to magically transform yourself into your favorite hero or villain? Of course, costumes are fantastic fun for both kids and adults alike. I am well past trick-or-treating age; in fact, so are my children, but I still love to get all gussied up in a really cool costume every year. Even if I do not have a party to go to, it is still awesome fun to become someone else for a night and lurk behind bushes or wait on the front porch for all the goblins to come hunting their treats.

Is it the chance to get scared silly by weaving your way through the local boy scouts' haunted house? Whether you scream or just laugh at such antics, the creative hauntings that folks can create to celebrate Halloween can be ridiculously fun and offer adults the chance to have a great time on what some folks mistakenly think of as a kid's holiday.

All of the above stuff provides great entertainment, but the absolute best way to have fun on Halloween is to throw a party and decorate with really awesome Halloween party supplies.

A Halloween party is one of the easiest kinds of parties to host because your guests provide most of the entertainment by showing up in the required costumes. Whether your party is for kids, grown-ups, or both, all you really need to do is have some games, a costume contest, lots of great food and drink, and - most important of all - really amazing Halloween party supplies and decorations.

Halloween party supplies are easy to find and come in a variety of price ranges. You can go to your local drug store, WalMart, and/or dollar store to find just about anything you could imagine. You can also look online for great Hallween party supplies at bargain prices.

If your house is normally pretty clean, you need to head out and get some artificial spider webs and hang them up in the corners. They usually come complete with some nasty-looking plastic spiders that you can put in them as well. As an added touch of fun, I really like to take one of those plastic spiders and stick it in the punch bowl - what a silly way to laugh like a hyena as people ponder over whether or not to fill up their plastic cups.

And speaking of cups, cups come in all sorts of cool designs for the holiday and make great Halloween party supplies, along with themed plates and napkins. When I was little, my mom and I always used to take the candy we would be giving out and put a few pieces inside a little treat bag. Whether you are having a party or just answering the door, little bags make great Halloween party supplies because there is a little extra thrill when the treat inside is a secret until the bag is opened.

Whatever kind of partying you choose to do this Halloween, make sure you spend a little bit of time and a few bucks to make a big hit with Halloween party supplies.

Have you ever thought about what makes Halloween so much fun? Are you jealous of the little ones because they get to have such a great time while all the adults are supposed to do is answer the door all night long?

Well, that is no longer the case. Halloween is no longer just for the kiddies. Halloween is a time for the grown-ups to have a howling good time as well, and one of the coolest ways to do that is to become a kid again. What better night is there for that than Halloween?

One of the greatest tools we adults have for making our own Halloween fun for our October celebration is the computer. If you are planning a Halloween party this year, why not make it a return-to-childhood Halloween theme? The computer offers all kinds of freebies that can make your Halloween childishly fantastic - from printable Halloween masks to coloring pages to great costume ideas to tips for decorating your house.

Before the big event, send out your invitations and make sure everyone knows you will be doing childlike things again as a part of this year's Halloween fun. Here are things you can do:

Go online and get some printable Halloween masks. Give one to each party guest and have him or her color them in (if you choose the kind that need to be colored) and put them in a big box and let people pick their favorite to wear.

Or go online and get printable Halloween masks that don't need to be colored in. Simply print them and follow the directions for applying some elastic and cutting out eyeholes. Then, as each person is greeted at your door, he hides his identity behind one of the printable Halloween masks. Everyone gets to be someone else for the night, and trust me, that's one of the most fun things about Halloween.

You could even turn it into a guessing game if you like. The guests are required to arrive in costume - minus the mask. Then, each one gets one of the printable Halloween masks as they enter. The only one who knows who is who is the host; all the others have to guess who is behind the mask simply by observing the costume and the mannerisms of the hidden person.

Another option for a way to use printable Halloween masks is to tell everyone who is coming that they must arrive wearing a printable Halloween mask that they got off the Internet. That way, there is a little continuity and a theme is produced - the printable Halloween masks party.

When planning your adult get-together this Halloween, it can be so much fun and way cheap if you incorporate the use of your computer and use printable Halloween masks.

Whether you decide to take the kids out for an hour of trick-or-treating and then come back for the party, or just forego the neighborhood wanderings this year, it is an absolute must that you have a fiendishly good time by playing Halloween games. This holiday is usually considered a kid's day, but I like to think of Halloween as a time to become a kid again, and Halloween games - even if they are really designed to please the kiddies - can really be Halloween games for both kids and adults.

Here are some great ideas for Halloween games to make everyone giggle and have a good time:

- Pass the Pumpkin - This game is great fun and all you need are three pumpkins and some people. Just group up the players into groups of pretty even ability levels, or make it kids against the adults or boys against the girls if you like. Each group starts with a pumpkin and the first player passes it to another in the group. Then that person passes it on to someone else, and so on. The winning team is the team that does not drop the pumpkin. Ohhh%u2026did I forget to mention, you should put some Crisco on the pumpkins first? Howling good fun! This is an outside game of course!
- Mummy Maniacs - This game is way cool and all you need is some white crepe paper or rolls of toilet paper. First, divide up the kids (or adults) into teams of two players each. One takes the paper and makes the other one into the mummy, being sure to wrap the legs together, not separately. Then, the non-mummies run around in a roped-off area, and it is the job of the mummies to "capture" an enemy partner. The first one to hug the enemy is the winner.
- Witches Broom Dancing - This is a variation on follow-the-leader, and all you need is a broom. Put all players in a circle. The first person takes the witch's broom and dances around the circle with it. Then, she hands it to whatever player she chooses, and that person must imitate her dance exactly. If she doesn't she sits down and another person takes a turn. The last player standing wins.
- Spider Sack Relay Race - This game makes players into spiders and requires just a little forethought and before-the-party preparation. All you need are three old pairs of panty hose and some old rags to stuff inside them. Put the rags in the legs of the pantyhose. Then, divide the players into three teams. The first player ties the pantyhose around his waist so that the legs dangle on his sides. He bends over and crawls on his hands and feet (or hands and knees, whichever) and goes to the finish line, where a teammate waits for him. Then, the teammate takes off the dangly pantyhose spider legs, and puts them on herself and crawls back to the beginning. Play continues until all players have crawled. First team to get everyone across a finish line wins.

It's easy to become a kid again on Halloween night and make it a special night with your friends and the kids. All you to do is put your thinking cap on and introduce everyone to one of the above games or another Halloween game you come up with.

Of course birthdays and Christmas are the biggest times to give and receive presents, but there is no reason to wait for the joy of giving - and getting, of course. This year, why not break with the old habits and give a Halloween gift?

A Halloween gift that is always a big hit around my house is a basket filled with orange and black cool stuff. It is easy to put together this kind of Halloween gift, too. All you have to do is stop by your local dollar store and pick up a basket of any color and size. Just be sure to get a basket that will hold whatever you want to put inside of it.

You can find some orange and black crepe paper and line the basket with that, and you may decide to decorate the basket with some orange and/or black and/or yellow curling ribbon as well. You can make some wild curls out of the ribbon and have them snaking all over the place. If you don't really want to get crepe paper, you can just line the basket with some Halloween napkins that you unfold.

That's all it takes to make a great presentation, and then you are ready to fill that basket with anything that would make a great Halloween gift for your kids, your spouse, your boss, your sister, or whomever you wish to make really happy this year.

You can stick with the Halloween theme and include only orange and black items, if you like. Or, as an alternative way of sticking with the Halloween gift theme, you can get whatever items you want and simply wrap them in orange and black paper or with Halloween napkins.

If you do not care quite as much about the items fitting into the Halloween gift theme, you can put anything you want inside the basket and let the basket itself represent the holiday. Some of my favorite items to include are:

CDs of the person's favorite music
Candles
Bookmarks
Some delicious treats - homemade or store bought, whichever suits your fancy
Soaps
Fruits-especially oranges for obvious reasons
Socks or pantyhose
Halloween-related objects that could be used for decorating the house - like miniature statues and so forth
Mittens or gloves for the upcoming colder weather

Of course, the above are just a few ideas to get you started; you know the Halloween gift recipient better than I do, so you know best what to put inside that gorgeous basket you made for a couple of bucks.